Lady Mountaineers Advance

And yes I hate the practice of putting Lady in front of the mascot name to form a separate name for the women’s team. After all, mountaineer is already gender-neutral, just ask Natalie Tennant. And unlike some schools, WVU does not officially endorse this moniker. So I’m totally just making it up. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.

(Maniacal laughter.)

But this post isn’t about gender roles, it’s about basketball. And we’ve pretty much ignored the women’s basketball team around here. Which is unfortunate and inexcusable at the same time. Sorry ladies.

Now tournament time is here and it’s time to hitch to bandwagon. The short version of events has WVU ranked #14 in the country after finishing the regular season 23-6 and securing a #3 seed and first-round bye in the Big East Tournament, held in picturesque downtown Hartford.

Before even taking the court in Hartford, things were lining up great for the Mountaineer lassies. First, #6 Syracuse (who beat WVU in the regular-season finale after the Mountaineers locked up third place) fell 68-67 in overtime to #11 seed South Florida. So WVU gets matched up with a lower-seeded team that needed extra time to decide the game the previous night. Then just prior to tonight’s game, #7 seed Louisville upset #2 Rutgers, meaning WVU would again face a lower-seeded and less-rested team, if they could get past the Lady Bulls.

And get past they did, as WVU ran out to a 39-15 halftime lead and cruised in the second half to a 64-42 victory. Olayinka Sanni led the way with 20 points and LaQuita Owens chipped in 14. WVU now gets to face Louisville in a rematch of Senior Day at the Coliseum in which WVU downed the Lady Cards 78-70. But WVU will have to watch out for talented Louisville forward Angel McCaughtry who tabbed 29 points and 11 boards in that contest.

In the other semifinal, two axis of evil members square off as perennial ass-kicker Connecticut will face upstart #5 seed Pitt. WVU will tip-off in the second game of the evening at roughly 8 p.m. and if you’re one of the lucky 2% of the country who gets ESPNU, you can watch live. For the rest of us, the great Travis Jones and the not-so-much Jay Jacobs will have the call on MSN radio statewide.